If you truly believe that God created the heavens and Earth and that He is a "loving" God, why has He done nothing in the history of the world to stop this madness? After hundreds of billions of dollars have been given to churches and their leaders, not one single prayer has been answered in the history of civilization. Try to prove me wrong.

Ask your religious leader about this and he'll spout the usual "God works in mysterious ways!" Really? Prove to me that He is going to stop wars and famine and cure cancer, and then I might listen.

What better mind control could there be than inventing "Heaven" and "Hell" to control the people? How many times have you been told, "Stop that or you'll go to Hell!"?

Wake up, people.

John CullenPeoria

...I couldn't help it, and I sent the following last Saturday evening.

Dear Editor:

re: John Cullen's "Prayers aren't helping" in the Reader Forum of last February 12

I am tempted to observe that the wars ended. However I expect that Mr. Cullen would, as he does in his letter, continue to list more and more things that aren't happening the way the "God" he envisions ought to do things. Those familiar with the Holy Bible know that both scoffers and believers have been making such lists for thousands of years. Frankly such discussions today better prove the skills of the debaters, rather than the subject being debated.

To his demand that "religious leaders ... prove to me that He is going to stop wars,... and then I might listen," this Christian pastor responds: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

And when he begins to get that, I pray that he will be ready to listen -- a become part of a long conversation.

About Me

Pastor at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church of Peoria, Illinois, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I am also a pastor of the Societas Trinitatis Sanctae (Society of the Holy Trinity).